Setting in Sage.properties for HD-PVR

[sdsean]

Is there a setting in one of the properties files that will let me change
how the HD-PVR acts during a show save (eg. while watching live tv or timeshifted).

I noticed that every time sage saves off a show and starts a new one. . .it stops the HD-PVR, then brings it back up (noticed it cause of the pretty light going on/off).

Searched all over, but couldn't find anything relavent. . .

[wayner]

I think that this is just how Sage works, is not unique to the HD-PVR, and it is the same issue as the whole debate about the "pause" that occurs when watching LiveTV and the show ends. Each show in Sage is recorded as a separate file. I believe what happens is that as one show ends Sage sends a "stop recording" command to the tuner. Sage closes the file. Then Sage goes to record the next show so it starts a new file - sends the "start recording" command to the HD-PVR and you are recording again. I think the problem is that the HD-PVR takes a lot longer to start/sto recording and to sync to a new signal. Other tuners, especially OTA tuners do this much more quickly.

[sdsean]

Yeah I've been all kinds of threads about the whole "pause" thing. . .

I was just wondering if there might be some other properties (besides the ones I already know about like "delay_to_wait_after_tuning") that might help.

Right now, I'm not focused too much on channel changing so much as the fact that SageTV starts hiccuping as it starts recording a new show when watching something live.

I'm not sure that the delay_to_wait setting will help that much since I'm not really changing channels, its just changing the show stream under the hood. . .

If I could just get it too either not shut down the HD-PVR or perhaps I could get it to pause playback automatically while this is going on (thereby creating a buffer and not hiccuping during playback) those would all help. . .

[sdsean]

In another thread I just found these settings:

For the missing gap between shows, check the SageTV server .properties file. Look for the videoframe/safe_fast_file_switching setting and try setting it to false. And in the server and any pc client SageTV .properties files, check the videoframe/time_to_start_into_tv_file_playback and be sure it's set to 0. That might help minimize it, but there will still be a gap of depending on how fast your server can tear down the recording graph and start up a new one.

I haven't tweaked those, I do have my delay to wait set to 1500, maybe could play with it again. . .

My machine is plenty stout so I'd assume my only bottle neck is simply the HD-PVR itself. . .

I really just want to minimize this. . . sometimes its like 5-7 seconds of playback hiccupping (like it rewinds half a sec, plays that half a sec, and over and over).

[Rico66]

As you mentioned this is pretty much the pause related discussion, which really gets emphasized with the hdpvr.
I think it would indeed make sense, if there would be a setting for the hdpvr not to be switched off, if you're not changing the channel. But I don't think that Sage has this.
Media Center/dvblink actually has this. They even started from the opposite direction by not switching off the hdpvr capture stream at all. But that can cause problems if you're changing channels, especially if this includes a change in resolution as well. Not sure how good this works though (I always wanted to try this out again, since I'm pretty annoyed by the pause behaviour, but haven't had the time yet...)

[sdsean]

OK here's what I found playing around. . . This is just info from my system
but I thought it a useful guide.

I saw this setting
never_stop_encoding=true/false

I thought maybe it would help and perhaps it does help with shows ending/begining. (but I'd have to wait another half hour or so for a show to end). . .

It basically just runs the tuners all the time, which I suppose is probably a bad idea for the HD-PVR, but maybe not. . .

It did not help with the hiccups when changing channels

safe_fast_file_switching=true/false

I have this set to false, no idea what it actually does. . .

delay_to_wait_after_tunning=(number in ms)

I have this set to 2500 currently, which I still think is an abhorrently high number.
I had it set as low as 750, and everything works, but the hiccups are still there when changing channels when that low, and 2500 seems to be a number where the are minimized (no idea if i'm losing parts of a show however). It seems to me (at least for the channel change case) there is some lag between the time the USB-serial fires the channel change, and the start/stop of the HD-PVR. I'd have to think SageTV certainly does know when the HD-PVR has started its encoding. . . . but Sage waits to build the graph since it could be the old channel and doesn't know if the channel change completed? In either case what's weird is that this number seems to effect both show endings and channel changing, which I find strange. . .

local_encoding_to_playback_delay=(some number)

Not sure what this does either. . . mine is set to 500 which I assume is ms.

Not sure what other settings might be useful. . .

[sdsean]

acutally if i could just have playback be in the "paused" state for a couple of seconds that would be helpful. . . at least it wouldn't hiccup. . .does which / if there is a setting that can do that?